WP4 co-coordinator Dr. Paul Overduin from the Alfred Wegener Institute is one of the co-authors of a new study that identifies microorganisms that decompose methane within permafrost beneath the ocean floor.

In their study, the researchers drilled frozen permafrost beneath the Arctic Ocean in Eastern Siberia and identified microorganisms capable of decomposing methane at low temperatures and without oxygen. The amount of methane that could be decomposed in submarine permafrost is suggested to be small at the global scale but significant compared to other environments.